


The Chronicles of Erli: The Other Side

by Anexor



Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27666467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anexor/pseuds/Anexor
Summary: Trying to write this up again; almost 6 years of work and I've never actually finished a story for this world. (Unless you count the short stories I never published).
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue: Nightfall

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to write this up again; almost 6 years of work and I've never actually finished a story for this world. (Unless you count the short stories I never published).

**_“Hear, see, be silent, be hidden; the procedure of a proper Eldritch Guard Scout. Enact the orders of the sovereign, and do so with silent grace. Whether it’s watching an enemy of the kingdom or mapping the layout of a long forgotten cave, we leave no trace and form no bonds.” -_ ** **Excerpt from** **_The King’s Third Hand_** **.**

Night was quiet; it had to be. The world was dangerous at night, and those that ignored the silence found themselves in trouble. There was no chattering of insects, no rustling of creatures in the bushes, no whistling of wind passing through the trees. Towns and villages had only the sounds of quiet chatter behind closed doors or in deep alleyways, the clinking of coins and the rustling of cloth. In a dimly lit room, a quill scratched rapidly against paper as information was transferred from mind to parchment. There was no time for delay, and despite her tiring hands, the oracle wrote on, a traitor to her kingdom. There were stomping feet behind the door before the loud sound of knocking. The traitor continued to write, ignoring the knocking as it grew more incessant. She only needed to finish a few more phrases. The bindings were complete, and the spells wrapped inside were finishing up the process of drawing the energy they would need. The knocking turned into heavy thumps as the door began to crack from the stress. Sweat dripped from the oracle’s head as she threw the quill down and shut the book; the last of three. The spells activated and the book sealed itself, an invisible ribbon wrapping around it and keeping it shut. With a huge crack, the door was shattered into splinters as the oracle turned around with wide eyes. Her Elven face twisted in anger as she faced the knights stepping into the room. She glanced at the clock on the wall; there were only five minutes to midnight. The knights parted as another figure entered the room, and the oracle could feel her blood run cold as she looked at him.

Standing in the shattered doorway, a white rabbit brushed the sawdust off of his navy, tailored suit. He looked over at the Elf and wagged a finger.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk..." he said softly. "It seems that we have a fool in our midst.”

“The only fool here is you. You know that your plan won’t work, don’t you remember the first time?” the oracle asked, stepping back and bracing herself against the desk.

“Of course I do, that’s why I know it will succeed this time. They’re all gone, that world has no defenders. Well, as long as you don’t send those silly books of yours. Why don’t you hand them over, Clarice?”

Clarice struggled against the order, pushing back the magical energies compelling her to obey.

“No!” Clarice shouted, clawing through the air as she struggled. “You have _no right_ to my name!”

“You gave it to me willingly, darling, I have the _only_ right,” the rabbit said, stepping closer. “Give me the books, they’re not leaving this world on my watch.”

“You can take these books from my _cold, dead, hands,_ ” Clarice hissed.

“Promises, dear. You wouldn’t want to make a deal like _that_.”

As the rabbit stepped closer, the clock on the wall started ringing. All heads turned to see the 5 hands pointing straight up, and the bell hanging below it swung back and forth.

“No, you wouldn’t be foolish enough to-” the rabbit started, but Clarice was already chanting under her breath, holding all three books tightly to her chest.

“ _Night and day, dark and light. Leave this world, give me flight…_ ” she chanted.

“Stop her!” the rabbit said, reaching forwards.

One of the knights quickly readied his spear as time stood still inside the room.

_“Take me now, from Diangris’ night! Take me now, to Erli’s light!”_

As Clarice finished the spell, there was a flash of light and the knight threw the spear, impaling her through the chest just before she disappeared, leaving the room empty.


	2. Chapter One: Bird Watching

**Research notes of Lyel Southwind; 2997/5/46/13:64; _“Unfortunately, today’s experiment was cut short before it even began. Just a few minutes before the scheduled time, the facility’s proximity alarms were triggered, and every lab went into lockdown. On the bright side, the experiment was one that could be delayed, those plants better consider themselves lucky. However, it was apparently not a false alarm, and whatever box was left behind was almost immediately taken in by the hazards wing. Let's hope it wasn’t a bomb or something.”_**

* * *

I stopped writing and looked at the entry. I quickly scratched out the last sentence and wondered what had gotten into me as I rubbed back the feathers on my head. I needed to stop writing so many objectively pointless remarks in my notes. The plants weren’t _sentient_ either, so I needed to scratch that part as well.

I saw color out of the corner of my eye and looked down to see my feathers shifting with mixed emotions, trying to break free of the usual black that I forced into them. With a light hiss, I focussed my magic and the feathers stopped shifting as much, settling into a dull dark grey.

Deciding that it would just have to do for now, I got to my feet and stepped over to the window viewing the sealed room next to me. The plants inside, a rare strain of carnivorous tangleweed, were supposed to have been tested on their reaction time, but the lockdown prevented that. As much as I would have liked to see those plants in action, the facility ran on a strict schedule, so the experiment would have to be delayed.

With a sigh, I grabbed my notebook and walked towards the door, exiting the room into the hallway. Clean tiles and white walls greeted me as always. As always, they still couldn’t afford at least a few decorations. A few other researchers bustled in the hall, moving between labs and stock rooms.

I needed to be on the second floor soon to oversee another team as the Director was busy with the hazards team. Since I was one of the most experienced at the facility, he usually left me in charge of things when he was too busy, despite the fact that he always practically breathed down my back when he did so.

The floor below the botanical wing was mostly for newer researchers, hence the supervision. If they were senior researchers, I wouldn’t even bother. We all knew how to cover each other's backs after staying here for a while. However, these were not senior researchers, so they likely had little idea of what actually went on in this place.

Undeservingly confident in my abilities to manage what would essentially be a group of confused young adults, I started climbing the stairs to the second floor. They were nothing special, the same bland white as the rest of the facility. Any stray dirt or stains were usually quickly removed by the cleaning units, despite my constantly expressed concerns of the units mixing the wrong chemicals or mistaking biological matter as stains. I knew I certainly didn’t want to accidentally get “cleaned” by the mostly experimental tech.

As I reached the landing of the second floor, I could feel my feathers begin to ruffle. Being a huebird, I could immediately see that something wasn’t right up here, the magic auras didn’t match up and behave how they should have. There was a visible imbalance in the air, and I peeked my head through the doorway of the stairwell, looking around the common area.

The air felt sickly, and I could see various natural magic auras in the air shifting in awful ways as their foggy colors blended together and pushed around the room. I felt bile creep its way up my throat as I watched. Something unnatural had entered the facility, and whatever it was was spreading the wrong magic into the area.

I swallowed hard and started following the auras. The junior researchers could wait, this was more important. The auras pulsed as I approached, and I felt queasy as I pushed forwards through the facility. A few researchers glanced my way and gave me odd looks as I passed them, and I glanced down to see my feathers shifting again; dark oranges and pale yellows flowed along my body, and I elected to ignore them.

As my surroundings changed, I realized that I had entered the hazards wing, and a red line followed the walls to signify the general danger. The pulsing in the auras was stronger now, and I could physically see each wave travel through the world like a stone dropped into a pond. A sense of unease hung in the air, and I could see a couple of researchers shiver uncomfortably and look around with worried expressions.

I pushed forwards, deeper into the wing, and the pulsing became more and more prominent to the point where I could almost feel myself get physically pushed by the magic auras. I stopped in front of a lone door--possibly the most remote one in the entire facility, now that I thought about it.

I almost hesitated when I raised my arm to knock on the door, but then the magic pulsed again. Whatever was in there couldn’t stay in the facility. It wasn’t safe, and it wasn’t natural. It couldn’t be left alone, it didn’t _want_ to be left alone, it _needed-_

I blinked. What was that? My mind felt like it had been invaded, and there was a presence resting there that hadn’t existed before.

Before I could dwell on it further, the door opened, and I found myself face to face with an aged elf with a magenta colored aura dressed in a similar lab coat to mine.

“Director,” I said with as flat a tone as I could muster.

“Lyel,” he returned, narrowing his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to see that box, sir,” I replied, trying to look past him.

The auras in the room were almost completely blending together in their confusion, and I could already tell that if whatever was causing the disturbance didn’t either move or stop its influence, nothing good was going to come out of it.

“What for? Aren’t you supposed to be supervising juniors right now?” the Director said as his eyes narrowed further.

“Sir, you don’t understand-” I started.

“No, _you_ don’t understand, Lyel. We’ve already opened the box, and I honestly can’t believe how much _nerve_ you have to come up to me asking for it.”

“Sir-”

“As soon as we figure out how to open this damn book, you can consider yourself on probation. I don’t know what all you’ve been doing in your private time, but it better come to a stop.”

“I don’t-”

“You should know our first rule. Giving away our location is only done with my _explicit_ permission. It’s not for ordering fancy custom journals with sealing spells attached to them.”

“ _Ilkryn!_ ” I shouted.

I knew that the Director hated me using his real name, but this was _important_.

“Whatever was in that box, it’s _not mine_ , and the magic auras in there—in this whole floor, for that matter— _aren’t_ happy with it.”

Just as I finished speaking, the magic in the room pulsed again, and I ended up taking a step backwards from the force of it. I cursed my innate bond with the magic plane concurrent to the physical word and blinked a few times to clear my vision. By this point, my feathers had begun shifting between a darker yellow and a deep red.

I looked back to see the Director looking back at me with a slightly surprised expression, but it quickly turned to one of anger.

“Look, _Southwind_ , I don’t know what trick you’re trying to pull, but it’s not going to work on me. Get out of here and do your assigned task, or else it’s nothing but a memory wipe you’re asking for.”

As the Director slammed the door and began shouting muffled directions from inside the room, a feeling of dread crept over me. The urge to vomit returned and I slowly walked back to the common area, watching the magic auras pulse and mix together.

Without any other choice, I walked into the junior researchers wing.

The auras were slightly calmer over here, but there was still the occasional weak pulse that made my stomach turn. At least it didn’t push me around from this distance.

I looked at the numbered rooms as I walked past them. This wing started in the 2600s—it wasn’t arbitrary, second floor, sixth wing. It was, however, coincidental… I paused in the line of thought as I reached the door. 2683; the Director could not have picked it by accident, even if he had tried.

Despite my anger beginning to boil to the surface, I took a moment to compose myself and readjust my feather colors. This time, I managed to settle them down into the full black color. I had to make myself presentable for the new researchers after all.

I knocked on the door before opening it without waiting for a response. Inside was another small room similar to the one I had been in earlier, the same whitewashed walls and tile floor with a few tables and chairs scattered around. Grouped around one of the tables were about three figures looking back at me, all in the grey lab coats of junior researchers.

From what I could tell, there was a dove with a green aura floating around them, a normal-looking human with a blue aura, and an arachnid with a dark purple aura who kept getting sideways looks from the other two. Exactly the sort I would’ve expected the Director to hire as a team, two useless idiots and one person to do all the work for none of the credit.

“Carry on,” I said, nodding towards the three of them. “I’m just here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid and shut down this wing.”

It was, of course, inevitable that they would mess something up horribly. There wasn’t a single researcher in the building who hadn’t, at some point, made something go terribly wrong. It was just a fact of working here.

Despite the distraction in front of me, I still felt uneasy. Whatever was in that box apparently had my name on it if the Director wasn’t lying. That, combined with the room number… Well, there wasn’t much doubt in my mind that something fishy was going on, and the implications of a secret facility having unusual business in itself was cause for concern.

I watched the junior researchers bumble around, and as I had initially thought, the arachnid was doing most of the work while the other two just kept trying to trip her up in order to pass the blame. With a sigh, I started stepping closer to them to see what they were even trying to do.

Disappointed but not surprised by the common fossil laying on the table that they apparently were trying to clean, I decided to do something that was probably rash and lifted my wing between the two idiots and the arachnid.

“Look,” I said, turning towards the two I had separated. “You’re not fooling anyone here but yourselves. I suggest you either start _actually_ helping, or go ahead and take your behavior to a different facility. You weren’t hired for your interruptive ability, but you sure as hell can get fired for it.”

“But we were-” the human started. “No, I saw what you were doing. As far as I’m concerned, if you can manage to bring a saw _that_ close to someone’s arm _that_ many times, you either need to get your vision checked, or you need to get your act together. You can sit down and let her do the work you’re all supposed to be doing together while I report you two, _or_ you can start helping her like the good researchers you’re supposed to be.”

It was technically an empty threat, since reporting specism didn’t really do anything here, but they didn’t know that. I glanced over at the arachnid and saw a gleam in her eye as she continued to work diligently.

I removed my wing and stepped back towards the corner of the room. If my words had stuck, then hopefully I would turn around to see the other two at least trying to work together.

Before I could turn though, a loud _thump_ followed by a _crash_ came from the hall, and I stopped to consider what it was. If it was nothing; a small incident in one of the labs and a mess that someone else would have to clean up, then I wouldn’t need to worry, but if it was something serious, well, the nearest security station was farther away from any given room than I had ever claimed to be comfortable.

I walked to the door, but I paused before opening it. I reached into the bag strapped to my side and dug around in it until I pulled out a small plant bulb. I always kept a supply on me in the case of emergencies, and I hoped that I wouldn’t have to actually use it once I stepped through the door.

I looked behind me to see the three researchers watching me curiously, and I narrowed my eyes at them in return.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” I said to the group before opening the door and looking through it.

At first, I didn’t see anything out of place, and I hesitantly placed a foot through the doorway before I quickly retracted it again. Buzzing through the space where my leg was, one of the floor models of the cleaning drones zipped across the hall leaving behind acrid burn marks on the tile.

I then realized that the pulsing in the magic auras had stopped, and that they were swirling just as usual now. Despite this, the feeling of dread that had been subdued until now once again dropped, and I didn’t even need to look at my feathers to know that they were shifting to a dark yellow color.

I held the bulb in my left hand and carefully stepped through the door, avoiding the burn marks as my feet clicked against the tile. I pressed one of the talons of my hand against the bulb as I walked through the now eerily quiet corridor. As I turned a corner that led back to the common area, I could immediately see what had caused the commotion.

One of the anthropoid cleaning drones was routinely destroying the room. Acid burns and scratches covered most of the visible area, and I could almost taste the acrid smell from all the way down the hall. The drone continued to spray compounds and slice at seemingly random areas around it until all that was left were indiscernible black spots.

A loud beeping sound that usually signalled a drone initiating its cleaning routine suddenly came from the drone and it turned to face me.

Right, colorful feathers, whoops.

The bulb was shoved back into the bag as I turned and ran back the way I came. I focused my thoughts and shifted my feathers back into the dull grey that I usually kept them at while I rushed back to the room. Then, thinking better of it, I turned down a random hallway and kept running. No point in endangering the new researchers.

I could hear the drone following behind me, and I rounded another corner as an acidic spray splattered against the wall, hissing and popping as it burned. I always hated these stupid robots.

The drone was slowly catching up to me, and I could hear various doors opening and quickly closing around the hall as I continued to run. Whatever time I could buy for security to arrive would be crucial. The thought occurred to me that security might not be aware of the situation, but I couldn’t exactly go check with them with a malfunctioning cleaning machine hot on my tail feathers.

A very bad idea popped into my head and I looked down at my arm, which was currently covered in dull grey feathers. With a little bit of effort, they quickly shifted into brighter colors and I heard another signalling beep behind me. I reached over with my other arm and gripped the feathers, wincing as I yanked them out and scattered them around the floor.

Luckily, the drone took the bait and stopped to attack the feathers, and I kept running down the hall to loop back into the common area. Now panting from the exertion, I turned the last corner to see a handful of figures in slim armor investigating the scorched surfaces. One of the guards spotted me and held up a hand as a signal to stop, but they faltered as another beep sounded from behind me.

I doubled down on my sprint as the guard shouted and raised the gun in his other hand. By now, the other guards had noticed and also raised their weapons in my direction. Not really a calming sight to run towards, all things considered.

I ducked down to one side of the hall and continued running as the guards opened fire. Also not very calming. I slipped past the guards and one of them started shouting commands, but I couldn’t make them out over the sound of gunfire.

As I fell to my knees panting, I turned back to see one of the guards lower their gun to raise a low rock barrier between us and the drone with their free hand. The gunshots were slowing down, and though I couldn’t see it past the barrier, I imagined that the drone was falling to the shots.

Eventually, the firing completely stopped, and though I could hear the team lead giving orders, I couldn’t make them out properly through the ringing in my ears. Finally, I allowed myself to relax slightly as I looked over my body for any hidden burns or cuts I might have suffered without noticing. Luckily, I only found the bare patch on my arm from the feathers I tore out, which was bleeding slightly, but not enough to really worry about.

I collapsed into a heap as I panted heavily from the event. I really needed to exercise more often. Glancing around the room, I could see that the drone really had almost burnt and chopped up everything in it with even a scrap of color.

I heard heavy footsteps and turned to see the last person I wanted to see stomping into the room. The Director looked around at the damage and I could see the very familiar anger painted clearly across his face.

“Southwind,” he hissed as his eyes met mine. Too exhausted to get into an argument, I pointed down the hall to where the drone was lying in a heap as the security guards investigated it.

“Not, my fault,” I managed between heavy breaths.

“That security team was on its way to deal with this until you showed up,” the Director said, and I now noticed that he was holding a tablet in one hand and a heavy-looking tome in the other.

“Right, and nobody else, would have possibly, gotten curious, and gotten its attention,” I said.

“Everyone else was holed up in their rooms, didn’t you hear the announcement over the intercom?” My feathers suddenly shifted to a light orange, and I tilted my head.

“What?” I asked.

“I clearly stated that a few cleaning drones were malfunctioning and for everyone to stay where they were while security handled the situation, or did you miss that with your self-righteous attitude?”

“There wasn’t an announcement in my room.” 

“Bullshit,” the Director said, and one of the bovine guards glanced our way before focusing back on the drone. “That message was sent to every occupied room.”

“Not 2683,” I muttered, and the Director gave me a strange look.

“Why on Erli were you there?”

“It… was on my schedule.”

“You were supposed to be in 2890.”

Before I could ask what he meant, I heard a commotion behind me and turned to see one of the guards holding out a hand and walking further down the hall.

“Hey! Please back away-”

Before he could finish the sentence, a huge clump of webbing slammed into him and knocked him into one of the other guards.

“What the-!”

The next few events happened faster than I could process. In a moment, the guards that had been investigating the drone were all on the ground with various sized clumps of thick webs holding them down. I could now make out the arachnid that was in the other room dashing down the hall towards us.

“Who are _you?_ ” the Director asked as he dropped the tome dangerously close to my chest. "What-"

I glanced upward as he shouted; his hand was stuck to his chest, and I could hear the guards struggling out of the webs.

“What are you-” I started, but the arachnid interrupted me.

“Grab the book!” she shouted.

“What?”

“ _Grab. The. Book!_ ”

Without a second thought, I reached out and got a grip on the tome as the Director struggled against the web, obviously not wanting to also drop his expensive tablet. I slid it closer to me and lifted it into my grasp before pushing myself up off of the ground. Before I could ask the arachnid any more questions, she reached us and gripped my arm tightly, right where I had torn out the feathers. Ow.

“ _Lightss out!_ ” the arachnid shouted, and the world went dark.


End file.
